Ho Ho Humbug!

Thursday was Thanksgiving, tomorrow is December 1 and I'm just not in the holiday spirit this season.  Thursday was great. I woke up, cooked my butt off all day and had a really nice time. But then Friday came. Eric had to go to work, I was stuck at home. We got my car back (it's bearings are going and we can't afford to fix it just yet). Saturday, Eric wasn't feeling well so he slept a lot. We debated over having to do laundry, etc. Today, Eric had to go back to work. I've been watching football and putting the ornaments on the tree. I actually set up the tree on Friday but didn't feel like decorating it. I didn't feel like decorating it today either, but figured I had to. I went with minimal ornaments this year, but brought out some old friends who have to go on the tree.

I don't know what it is this year. Just not feeling it. Could be that we're still having some financial difficulty and that there won't be any presents under the tree. Could be that it was 85 and sunny on Thanksgiving. Could be that I am just a humbug this year. I'm not sure. I don't like feeling this way. I'd rather be thrilled that there is peppermint ice cream in the stores. That homes smell like cookies and warmth. That 'tis the season and that giving is better than receiving. I'm just not feeling it.

There is hope. I mean, walking home from the subway, I'm happy to look at other people's lights and decorations. I'm sure once I see "Rudolph" and "The Year Without a Santa Claus" I'll feel better. Next weekend (while Eric works both Saturday and Sunday), I'll make cookies, using recipes from my great grandmother, written in her handwriting. It's going to be cooler this week, so I'll be able to wear sweaters and a jacket.  I'll keep you updated.

Cooking All Weekend

I do cook during the work week, but it's usually something quick. Pasta, burgers, frozen pizza. Nothing that requires a lot of effort and is fairly quick to cook, because I'm usually tired after working and sometimes Eric doesn't get home until after 9pm and who wants to prepare a huge meal at that hour?

So I'm spending this weekend cooking. I got up early and went to the grocery store. No one in Hollywood wakes up before 10pm and with the Hollywood Film Awards last night, people were sleeping in more than usual. Eric really likes a Sunday Night Dinner so I had decided yesterday I would make a pot roast. Now my pot roast is made using a recipe my Mom used to use in the 60's. It's simple but so good. It's one of Eric's favorite meals but what kills him is that you have to cook it low and slow, so after about an hour in the oven, the smells of pot roast begin to fill the apartment and it's another 4-5 hours before we can eat it. It drives him nuts. Eric is working tomorrow so he won't have to be around the smell which is another reason I chose to make it. It's also great to have meat, veggies, and gravy all cooking in one pan. Makes for easier clean-up.

For those of you who follow me regularly, you know my goal has been to cook for Chris Hardwick and Benedict Cumberbatch. Well, yesterday on Twitter, I invited Chris Hardwick to dinner and one of my "foodie" followers suggested I make cajun shrimp. Chris has yet to respond to any invitation, but it's good to practice. So tonight, I'm making cajun shrimp pasta. I'm also baking my chocolate filled cupcakes that Eric enjoyed so much last weekend, and I cooked up a cubed steak sandwich for myself for lunch.

I will have to do the dishes many times this weekend. I will wash the same measuring cups, plates, bowls, pans, etc several times and each time I won't mind at all. Cooking helps me relax, helps me take my mind off whatever other bullshit is going on in my life. Cooking to me, is love. I like to share my cooking with others and have them enjoy what I make.

So while others of you may be out shopping, or going to movies, or other things...I will spend the weekend covered in chocolate, spices, and dish soap, and will love every minute of it!

TGIF!

It's Friday. Now that I'm older, that has different meanings. When I was young, it was the end of the school week, it meant we got to eat out, or as I got older, go to a movie with friends because I didn't have to get up and go to school the next day. In college it meant time for a pep rally before the football game on Saturday. Date night. Time to drink.

I still like to eat out on Fridays after cooking all week. I also like unwinding from the work week and realizing that I have 2 days off from traffic nightmares. It also still means college football the next day, although I will admit I don't watch as much college ball as I do the pros.

The big differences now is that Friday night is just another night. I still wake up at 6am on Saturday morning, only instead of going to work or school, I now have errands to do. I have to go do laundry, or go to the grocery store before it gets too crowded. Friday is just another day now. Especially when Eric works on weekends so we don't have two days off together. I now really enjoy going to bed early on a Friday night.

So let Rebecca Black and Katy Perry have their "Friday" and "Last Friday Night", I'll be grateful that I'm home for a few days.

One Year Later

It has officially been a year since we pulled the U-Haul into the driveway in Pasadena and started our California adventure. We've struggled, had some unexpected setbacks and losses but in the end we're still here. We both have jobs. We're paying our bills on time. We've explored a little bit of Southern California. Had some nice experiences and some not so nice experiences.

In this next year, I'd love to make some new friends, explore more of what the area has to offer and to help Eric get on his path to fulfilling his lifelong dream. (I'd also like to get California license plates for the car).

So we probably didn't think we'd be where we are now after 365 days, but to be honest, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I Was Kicked to Death By My Own Horse

Luckily it was just in the video game I was playing. I used to love video games when I was younger and a couple of years ago we got a PlayStation 3 so Eric and I could watch blu-rays and kick each other's butts in Madden. With us not having much spare money these days, a few weeks ago I went to Best Buy and bought a new video game to entertain myself while Eric was working weekends. Also, the guys I work with were talking about how fun the new games are. I picked "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion". It had been awarded "game of the year" and all that and sounded like fun. A quest to get an heir back to his throne after his father dies. When I first purchased the game I played for an entire afternoon and finally made it out of the castle to begin my quest. I also made it to the next town and was able to get a horse. Well at the end of that first day I kept getting attacked by wolves and dying so I just gave up.

Today I was watching the Northwestern/Michigan game and found it really boring so I thought I'd try my hand at Oblivion again. I tried to remember how to fight and got thrown in jail for stealing something...but luckily my horse was still where I left him outside a pub. So I rode him to the next village and left him outside the gates while I explored. I left the village from a different entrance than the one I had entered and a woman tried to sell me another horse. I didn't have enough gold so I left. But seeing that the horse was outside, I stole this new horse and galloped off to where my next quest was. On the journey a wolf appeared and the horse and I killed it. Me with my sword, him with his hooves. There was also some small troll-like creature attacking us and by the time I had killed him...my horse was gone. I figured he ran off somewhere. Oh well, guess I'd walk. I didn't get very far when my horse galloped up, reared several times and proceeded to kick me to death. The game kept telling me to push the X to ride the horse but it wasn't working and soon I was face down, bleeding to death on the side of the road. I figured that maybe it was a good time to stop playing. When your own horse turns on you, it's time to go.

I'll return to the game tomorrow or some other time and see if I can find a calmer, more gentle horse that wants to help me. In the meantime, I'll be playing golf on the PlayStation. Much less violent and no horses allowed.

Slacker

Wow! I haven't posted since Sunday. I hate it when that happens. Even when I promised that I would write every day even if it was just a sentence. Maybe it was Daylight Savings Time ending. Maybe it was getting home later due to idiots driving without their lights on and not realizing it's DARK outside now. Maybe it was just laziness. I'm not going to make any excuses. Just see it as a setback and move forward.

I've been tired this week. The week started out well, I walked home from the subway station again, was up to 110 squats and could almost do 50 seconds of planking. But I've not done any of that the past couple of days and now I feel lazy. I have to get back in the groove tomorrow.

So I've written something now and still have lots of ideas for topics so I have no shortage of subjects to write about. Tomorrow it's back on the horse.

'Tis The Season

For cooking things, lots of things. Now, I'm just as upset as everyone else with Christmas commercials being run before Halloween and everyone seemingly skipping over Thanksgiving to rush towards Christmas...but I am grateful that now is the season when I LOVE to cook. Thanksgiving is a great day in my house. I'm up early and even if it's just me and Eric for dinner, I will still make a turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and all the other things. I love to do that and I love having leftovers.  Then comes the baking. I love pulling out the cards in my great-grandmother's handwriting to make her Scottish Shortbread, Almond Crescents and Bourbon Butter Cookies. I also love making an elaborate Christmas Eve dinner. Then turning around and doing another one for Christmas day. I like making New Years Day breakfast.  I'm just happy. My parents loved to cook and transferred this love down to me.

So hopefully soon there will be many photos and recipes and stories of my holiday cooking.

No Tricks or Treats

Our new apartment building has several families living in it. A lot of these families have children so we decided to buy a big bag of candy for Halloween. We bought it last weekend and were very careful not to break into it ourselves and eat all the candy before Halloween. I got home around 6 tonight, changed clothes, grabbed the bag of candy and prepared for knocks on our door or the ringing of our doorbell. Not one knock. Not one ring. I think a lot of the families drove to a more "residential" neighborhood to go trick-or-treating. Oh well. More M & M's,  Snickers, Twix and Starbursts for us. Watch...next year we won't buy any candy and have lots of costumed characters show up.

As If I Needed Another Reason To Love Him

Tonight Fathom Events showed an encore presentation of The National Theatre's production of "Frankenstein" starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller (Yes, they both play Sherlock on TV in case you didn't know). I got to see Johnny Lee Miller as "the Creature" as they were calling him, and Benedict played Victor Frankenstein. It was directed by Danny Boyle and for those of you Harry Potter fans out there...George Harris, who was Kingsley Shacklebolt and said "You may not like him, but one thing you've got to say is Dumbledore's got style" was also in the play.

The only regret I have is not going Monday so that I could see Benedict as "the Creature"  and compare and contrast.  But I'm not complaining. I thought it was extremely well done. Yes, maybe a bit overly staged in some points...like I don't think we needed the "steam punk" group when the Creature first goes out into the world, and the giant chandelier lighting was a bit distracting, but I did love every minute of it. I am and always have been a theatre geek and this is theatre at it's finest. I understand why the actors changed roles every other night. It has to be exhausting putting in the effort to play the Creature, not only physically but mentally as well. The 2 hours just flew by and it was the perfect length. Nothing dragged or seemed out of place and the story moved along. There was some humor, but mostly you felt for the Creature as well as Victor Frankenstein who was more like the Creature then he probably wanted to admit. 

Most of all though, it just made my respect, admiration and yes, love, for Benedict Cumberbatch grow that much more. You can tell he researches his roles, whether in movies or live on stage. You can see what an amazing range he has. Even his speech changed to match the mood.  I'm not sure how you're supposed to see Victor, as the victim or as the monster, but I did find myself feeling for this lost man who did something and thought no one would find out, yet it tortured him throughout his days. In understated simplicity, Benedict portrayed all those emotions and if you were supposed to hate him, I just couldn't. He is truly gifted and I'm really hoping that they allow a camera crew into his portrayal of Hamlet later next year in London and that Fathom Events shows it.  (I also have to cook this man dinner!)

OUCH!

I didn't write yesterday...I was too exhausted. I went from just walking around the office and to and from my car to walking almost 3 miles yesterday. We live in a very hilly part of Los Angeles. I thought the major hills were in San Francisco but when you haven't walked in awhile, the last .2 of a mile uphill to get home feels like you're walking up Lombard Street.

So when I got home I was tired and sore, but no where near as sore as I am today. My ankles and my calves are screaming at me. Even the top of my feet hurt.

In the long run though, it was good to get some fresh air and exercise and to let someone else do the driving for a change.

I'm also doing squats and planking to help get in better shape. I did that yesterday as well. Today I got to take a break from squats but still held the plank position for 30 seconds. I just hope that when I get out of bed tomorrow morning that my legs will have forgiven me.

A House is Not a Home

Until you add some personal touches. We've been in our apartment for about a month and a half now. We have put most of the things away and hung up almost all of the clothes, however we still had a pile of stuff on the dining room table...and under it and surrounding it. So today I moved the boxes into the bedroom, and unwrapped the pictures that we had hanging in Pasadena. Then I carefully went around the apartment and decided where each picture/painting should go. The Quimper went in the kitchen, the Chagal in the dining area, Jeckyll and Hyde in the bathroom, etc. Just this simple act of placing things where they belong (I didn't hang all of them yet) really made a difference. When Eric walked in after work and frustrating traffic he was going to say something else, but he walked in and said "ooh! How nice!"

So it's the little things that make a difference and while we are rapidly approaching our 1 year in California Anniversary, it's good to think that we're finally settling in.

Too Tired to Write

I waited too long today to do my post and can barely keep my eyes open. So I'll just say Goodnight.

Too Much Time in The Car

That's what I did today. Spent too much time in my car. I got up this morning and turned on the news to see what the weather and traffic was going to be like today. The weather was warm and traffic, which is usually pretty decent on a Friday was horrible. There was a SIG Alert on the 101 at White Oak. I have to drive past White Oak to get to work. This was at 6am. "That's OKAY" I told myself, I'll just leave a bit early and take a side street to work. Apparently I was not the only one with this idea. It usually takes me 10-15 minutes to get from the 405 split to work. I got off on the 405 today and took it to Victory. From there it took me 45 minutes to go 5 miles. I emailed my manager to let her know I would be late and was happy that when I pulled into the parking lot that many people were in the same boat. Two of the other music researchers were not there yet and they didn't arrive until about half an hour after I did. So that was almost 2 hours in the car this morning. Then I worked a full day in a cramped cubicle.

Then on the way home it took me another hour and a half due to accidents in Hollywood. I did get to see the sun set in my rear view mirror which was sort of pretty, but I would have exchanged that view for a simple 40 minute drive home.

Now I'm sore. I'm tired. And I don't really want to get back into my car until Monday.

Not Much To Say

The problem with blogging is that sometimes you just don't know what to write. I have several ideas floating around in my head, but am trying to separate them into different blog posts rather than having one long one. So in the future, look for blogs on Podcasts, commuting, reality TV, and of course, food. 

Tonight I'm letting my mind go blank. Tomorrow is hopefully a new story.

Relocation

I've relocated a lot in the past year. Chicago to California. Pasadena to Los Angeles. 5 years a a freelance employee to a permanent employee with paid vacation time and benefits. Today I relocated my desk at work. 

Our office is set up with cubicles and kind of community pods. Our pod in the music research department was dark but open. Six of us in the same rectangular area with a file cabinet in the middle, and bigger areas for the two people who had been there the longest. I was in one corner with not much of a view. Ok. No view. We kept the lights off...just because that's how it had been done for years and because when we did actually experiment with the lights on for a few days it felt very institutional. So now I have my own private cubicle. I still face a wall when I'm working but there's more storage and definitely more light. I also noticed it was quieter. I could hear more conversations from other cubicles but I didn't have to have my music on as loud. I will miss the few conversations that my co-workers and I had from time to time. (Mostly on Friday afternoons). But all in all I think this relocation will be positive, just like all the other ones have been.

DARN!

I haven't written in over 2 weeks. That definitely was not my plan. I've got to get myself more disciplined so that I don't go that long without writing. I've been tired, which is no excuse. I said I'd write every day, even if it's just a sentence. Even if I'm tired I should be able to spit out a sentence. They say you have to do something consistently for 60 days for it to become a habit, so starting now, that's my goal. 60 days in a row. Word. Sentence. Essay. Novella. Whatever. It will be done.

I'm also going to go back to exercising or stretching in the morning and taking walks. I need to lose some of this weight. I'm sure if I do that I won't be as tired. It's not like I have an excuse of bad weather here in California. Also planning on eating better. Smaller portions. More fruits and vegetables. Less take-out.

It seems overwhelming, but it's really not. Just a small thing and I CAN DO IT!  Enough with feeling let down and disappointed in myself.

Stay tuned!

Back to the Books

I'm a reader. A voracious reader. I've been reading for many, many years. I had a teacher tell my parents to not let me read so much because I was ahead of the other kids in class. I was an English major. I have read and recited The Canterbury Tales in Old English.  I have over 3,000 pounds of books. In one class in one semester in college I read Anna Karenina, War & Peace and Crime and Punishment. I read the Harry Potter books before I saw the movies. I read The Princess Bride before I saw the movie. Jurassic Park is a better book. The Horse Whisperer has a very different ending in print than on the big screen.

Now, I also love movies and television. I also love in this day and age that when I go to bed at night I have my favorite movies or TV shows right at my fingertips on my iPad. But I need to get back to reading. I had challenged myself to read 24 books by the end of this year. That's only 2 a month. I'm behind. Way behind and it's October. I do miss my commute in Chicago where I could read before and after work on the train. Now I have to pay attention to the traffic and the roads. So for the next month the iPad will be off and I will read at night. Every night. Let's see how many books I can read in the next 3 weeks. The TV shows and movies aren't going anywhere.

...And Without a Sink Too

As you know we moved into a new apartment a couple of weeks ago. Everything was fine...the shower leaked a little but we learned how to properly turn it off. The drawers and cabinets get stuck all the time but that's because they were freshly painted and I think adding some  knobs and handles will solve that issue.  We also had the fiasco with Time Warner Cable, but that seems to be working now too.

The kitchen is great. I have enough counter space for ALL my appliances (Cuisinart, convection oven, microwave, coffee maker) and still have plenty of room for prep. It will be nice to take the Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven and have someplace to put AND carve it without rearranging the entire kitchen. The only complaint I have is the sink. It's a double sink with an "insinkerator" (don't call them disposals in CA). The insinkerator hasn't worked since we moved in. Not a big deal, I can live without one. Egg shells can go into the trash as easily as they can down the sink. But last Monday night, as Eric was on the phone with the cable people, I was doing dishes and the sink with the insinkerator started to back up. I'm pretty resourceful, know my way around some tools so I grabbed the plunger and gave it a few tugs. Took care of the water back-up and I went on with washing dishes. A few minutes later I found myself standing in a puddle of water. I opened the cabinet doors and there was water pouring down the pipes. Oops. So we called the landlady and she said she'd have someone out the next day. He never showed. So we we're promised that he was coming the next day and could she let him into our apartment (since we both had to be at work). No problem...except I remembered her telling us that she only had 1 key to our place. Turns out I was right and she couldn't let the guy in on Wednesday either. So Thursday comes along and Eric has the day off. The cable guy comes and the plumber comes.  He apparently fixes the sink and is even sent back to our place by our landlady to make sure the insinkerator works (turns out all it needed was a flipped switch). So, Eric does the dishes and I come home to a clean kitchen with what I thought was a working sink.

Flash forward to Saturday. I'm doing dishes before I cook dinner and  lo and behold, both sinks are filling up again. Now on Friday, Eric had said not to use the insinkerator because he didn't think it was working properly. So I didn't touch it. But now both sinks are full of nasty water and I end up having to do my dish washing in the bathtub!  Eric looks at the sinks while I'm in the bathroom rinsing the soap off with the spray from the shower and again the sink starts leaking everywhere. Yuck.

Now I don't mind doing a glass or two, or some forks, or a plate in the bathroom. But I'm a cook and I make meals which use pots, pans, cutting boards, measuring cups, etc...and it's no fun sitting on the toilet, hunched over the bathtub just so I can make a good meal at home.

The plumber was back today, brought help and rooted out the sink, the insinkerator and Eric did the dishes again without any problems. So that's basically a full week without a sink. Keep your fingers crossed that it stays unclogged. I can cook without an oven, but I need a sink!

One sentence

One sentence is about all I can manage tonight. I ended up organizing my half of the closet today and it took more out of me than I thought. While organizing I was thinking of a topic for today's blog but my mind got too filled with jumbled thoughts and I just didn't have the energy to take the time and straighten them out into something coherent. I was going to write about podcasts and I probably will later in the week. For now though it's time for bed. Another work week starts tomorrow and our sink is broken again so we need to get that fixed. I've been doing dishes in the bathtub,  not very fun, but it works in a pinch. Bears lost, Dolphins won and Anthony Bourdain was back on CNN. All in all, good  Sunday.

I Live in a City With A Winning Baseball Team...Wait, What?

I didn't blog last night because I was up watching the Los Angeles Dodgers win their division under the masterful arm of Clayton Kershaw. (His stand up triple didn't hurt either). He looks a bit like Blake Shelton and is on his way to a Cy Young award and possibly MVP.

There was champagne flowing in the locker room, they did a victory lap around the field, and there were some fireworks. All it all it was a good game to watch and I'm happy for the Dodgers. I do hope they make it to the World Series, even if that means I will have to find new and unique ways to get home due to MAJOR traffic problems. I'm also happy because Carl Crawford, who was one of my favorite players when I lived in Florida is a member of the Dodgers. It's nice to see him doing well, as well as Darwin Barney, who had a brief lapse of judgement and joined the Cubs for a season.

The other wonderful part of a Dodger game is Vin Scully. He's almost 87 years old and he does the entire game on TV AND Radio on his own. No color commentator, no play-by-play guy. Just Vin. Telling wonderful stories, correcting himself when he makes grammatical errors, and by far, the most talented baseball announcer I have ever heard. Harry Caray and Ron Santo were fun to listen to, but they were not "masters" like Scully. Even with all the problems we've been having with Time Warner Cable, I was glad they agreed to air the final games so I could witness this.

Last year, before we moved to Los Angeles, Eric and I got to live the dream and play catch, have batting practice, and catch fly balls on the actual surface of Wrigley Field. We got to hug the ivy, we got to stand on home plate and had our picture taken in the on-deck circle. It was amazing. Especially when you've loved the Cubs as long as I have. But I would love to see a celebration on that field, a victory lap around the warning track. The fans getting high fives and sprayed with champagne.

Not to say that I haven't witnessed great victories in Chicago. I have. I have watched the Bears win a couple of Super Bowls, I have watched the Bulls "repeat the three-peat", and lately have watched the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup...twice in 3 years. (Yes, White Sox fans, I know you've won some too).  But I'm a Cubs fan. Always have been. Always will be. I have seen them win some games, I have seen them win their division, but I have NEVER seen them celebrate like the Dodgers did last night. More often than not I have watched them get so close, and then somehow find a way to lose and watch other teams celebrate with champagne. It's heartbreaking to be a Cubs fan. 

So forgive me if I jump on the Dodgers bandwagon a little (ok, a LOT) late and enjoy living in a city that has a winning baseball team.

Honey, it's been Monday all day long

This is one of my favorite phrases that was spoken by a waitress in Carlsbad, NM. It was in some small restaurant or diner and she had obviously had a rough weekend.  Today has been a Monday.  Work was a little more challenging today, with extra research needed because instead of putting down the song "Fancy" by Iggy Izalea...the TV station I was working on chose to put down "Barack Obama sings Fancy" and then again they list the song but use one of the 6 composers instead of Iggy's name. And of course, that has to be researched because I don't know if the President was singing Iggy's version or maybe Reba McEntire's version, or one of the other 50 songs titled "Fancy" I'm our database. (They also used a lot of YouTube videos with 'unknown' music). Traffic was bad, which in L.A. isn't unusual, but it was worse than normal on the way home. Then, we had picked up a new cable box from Time Warner (they will have to be an entire blog post on their own) and it's not working properly. So while Eric is on the phone with them, I'm doing the dishes in hopes of starting dinner and sitting down to watch the second half of Monday Night Football between the Bears and Jets. I'm just washing away when all of a sudden it's very wet underneath my feet...I open the cabinet under the sink and water is pouring out of it. Great. 1 week in the new place and the sink is leaking. The disposal already didn't work and this just added to the woes  of the day.

But anyway, I mopped up the floor, and started dinner, a cable guy is coming on Thursday (plus we got a 2 week credit for their mistakes), and although I didn't get to watch football, I did get to see Dancing With The Stars. I also wrote in my blog so the night wasn't a total disaster. Yes, it's been Monday all day long but it's almost Tuesday and it's the first day of Fall. That means days are getting shorter.

No More Messing Around...It's Time to Write...and cook!

We just moved. Again. This was much shorter than Chicago to Pasadena, but it was still a move. Moving sucks. You have to pack up everything in boxes or bags and hope that it all arrives at your new destination intact with your animals, your significant other, and your sanity. We survived. It was the hottest weekend Southern California had seen in awhile and we were glad we hired 4 guys to do the trekking up and down all the stairs of our new 3rd floor walk-up apartment. It only took 2 extra trips to Pasadena to get the rest of the stuff and we're settling in. We didn't have wi-fi or TV for a week, which was actually ok.  We got that all connected on Friday, which was also a big pain, but it was done and now I can watch football and Top Chef and Ray Donovan and soon The Walking Dead.

Last night, after we discovered that none of the movies "On Demand" seem to come in HD, Eric and I ended up watching Julie & Julia on Bravo. I had read the book and already seen the movie but it was good to re-watch it (even with the commercials). But, as most books or movies do, it got me to thinking. Amy Adams (as Julie) gives herself a deadline to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's The Art of French Cooking within a year and to blog about her experience. She gives herself a deadline because if she doesn't she fears she won't finish it. As I've discovered with this blog, I tend to not finish things or even write very much anymore and I miss it. So I need to do it more.

With all the stress of moving to a new state, finding a new job, having to find ANOTHER new place to live, the death of my cat, Jasper and getting the new kitten, Chaplin...I've found one excuse or another not to sit my butt down and write, even just one sentence, every day. It's not good for me mentally. I've not gained many new friends out here and have lost touch with my old ones, even though I do get various brief updates via Facebook...but it's not the same. So I'm finding myself a little more emotional, a little more "on edge", a little less easy to live with. I've always believed that writing is a form of therapy for me so it's time to get serious about starting a new therapy session.

So like "Julie" I'm giving myself a deadline. I'm going to write every day until Christmas. There are definitely enough things to write about. (Especially since we have moved into a much more interesting neighborhood). I'm going to keep you up to date on my attempts to reach Chris Hardwick and invite him to dinner, I'm going to let you know about Chaplin's antics. I'm going to let you know what I'm cooking, what I'm not cooking. I'm going to relay funny stories like the conversation the two guys behind me in line at Trader Joe's yesterday were having, and basically I'm just going to write.

I don't expect a newspaper article to be written about me, a book to be written, or anything else grand. I'm just going to put things out there for ME and hope that those of you that read and share it will come along, or just simply take a few minutes out of your day to read it.

Now excuse me, I have to go watch football and think about my topic for tomorrow.

Back to the Beginning

It's Memorial Day weekend, the "unofficial" "official" start of summer and I haven't posted anything since January. Typical. I could blame it on the fact that my laptop is genuinely dead now and I have to borrow Eric's, or I could blame it on working, getting used to California, or just plain laziness. But I'm not going to blame it on anything and I'm going to "get on with it."

I've been making some changes lately. I've started a "planking" challenge, where I'm stretched out on the floor on my elbows and tiptoes for a certain amount of time. At this point I'm supposed to be at a minute and a half. I can do about 46 seconds before my legs are shaking and my arms are screaming and I have to put myself back on the ground, but considering that just 16 days ago I could barely do it for 10 seconds, I think I'm making progress. I'm also doing 30 squats, 20 crunches and 10 "girl" push-ups every morning. So slowly, I'm getting into better shape, which is good. 

I'm also reading more. Eric's Mom sent me an Amazon gift card for my birthday so I was able to buy some more books and have been reading those at night and at lunchtime at work. I've always loved reading and am enjoying the fact that I am doing it more.

So now to writing more. I have issued myself another challenge. It's more of a goal than a challenge, but it will be challenging to accomplish so we'll consider it a challenge. When I started this blog things in my life were changing. I was living with someone for the first time in over 21 years and I was cooking in a kitchen that didn't have an oven. I survived that and even learned new things in the process. Now I have moved to a different state and am trying to get used to a new climate, a new grocery store, and a new job. I am learning something new every day about myself and about California. It's great. But when you move to the Los Angeles/Hollywood area...as they said in "Pretty Woman"..."everyone has a dream" and I think it's time to pursue my dream. I've been listening to podcasts a lot on the drive home from work, mostly "The Nerdist" from Chris Hardwick, "Adam Carolla" as well as "Dr. Drew," and the "WTF" podcast from Marc Maron. What I've learned from these podcasts (besides the fact that everyone in Hollywood used to have an alcohol or drug problem) is that you need to set small, realistic goals for yourself and grow from there.

So here's my goal...and one of them isn't small and realistic at all, but if I can accomplish the first one, then I'll be able to get to the second one with less trouble.  I want to cook dinner for Chris Hardwick and Benedict Cumberbatch. Now, these will be two separate dinners, and as I mentioned, cooking a meal for Hardwick will probably be a lot easier than getting Benedict Cumberbatch to have a meal with me, but it's a goal and being a stubborn Taurus, I'm going to try my best to accomplish this.

 Chris Hardwick lives in Los Angeles and is in town quite a bit. He's also monumentally busy, but he's got to eat, right? Chris has helped me in ways I'm not quite ready to get into yet, but let's just say he's been an invaluable guide to me in my personal life. I figure starting out with an email to him will be a start and probably the best way to reach him. I'd say I'd reach out to him on Twitter, but trying to invite someone to dinner in 140 characters right of the bat is a bit more of a challenge than I want to take. (He also has over 2.2 million followers.) I also know he's been eating a lot of vegetarian lately (his girlfriend is a vegetarian and she's invited to dinner as well). So that will be good. I'll start to cook more vegetarian meals for myself and Eric. Believe me, as much as I like to take pride in my cooking, I wouldn't invite over someone and have them be a guinea pig. So that's my first challenge and I'll keep you updated in the weeks to come as to whether I've gotten any response. I figure it may take me a year and I'm ok with that. One step at a time.

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch will be the next goal as a dinner guest. I'm probably going to have to give myself 5 years for this one. But hey, at job interviews they always ask you what your long term plans are...well, this is one. I first "really" noticed Benedict on "The Graham Norton" show when he was discussing Cumberbitches and the pictures comparing him to an otter. Then I saw him in "Star Trek: Into Darkness" and the wonderful series "Sherlock" where I will admit, I developed a major crush on him. Every since I was old enough to notice guys, I've been attracted to tall men with deep voices. (Good thing Eric falls into those categories). Mr. Cumberbatch is also very busy and doesn't come to Los Angeles very often, so that will be difficult, although if I could manage it, I'd cook for him in London in a heartbeat. This one will have to be one I'll have to be careful with as well, I don't want to be considered a "stalker" and in the first year, I'll probably only try to get some contact information and send a small, introductory letter. I'm willing to take my time with this to make it happen. It probably won't, but I am determined to try.

So that's it. That's what I'm going to work on and that's what I'm going to write about. I won't promise a timeline for writing as I can't seem to keep those, but I will say I'm going to try to keep a weekly update on my progress.

Back to the beginning. It's like cooking without an oven and I've already done that.

New Year, New Location, New Goals

Welcome to 2014! Last year I committed myself to Project Dean and I failed. In fact, the only goal I believe I did accomplish was moving out to California before the snow started in Chicago, so I'll give myself a small pat on the back for that one. Now it's a new year and the time to make resolutions and changes and everything else we're supposed to do January 1. Being stubborn and independent however, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to not tell anyone about what I plan to do and instead just do it. That way there's no pressure and I'm only accountable for my own actions. I will say that I don't like the way I look when I see pictures of myself so I'll probably work on that. I'll also say that I miss writing and being creative so I'll probably work on that too.

Moving to a new state gives me a chance to discover all sorts of new things. New places to visit, new places to eat, new places to hike, walk, swim, and ride (horses AND Harleys). I have a new job so there will be new bosses to impress, new friends to make and new responsibilities. There is also a new schedule in our relationship to get used to. Eric works retail,  and starting the 13th I'll be working Monday thru Friday 8:30-5:00. Eric's days off are Wednesday and Friday, he works Saturday and Sunday, I'll have the weekends free. It will be a lot more independent time for us which I think will help make our relationship stronger. We will have to make time to be together and make those times important.

I'm looking forward to the new year, the new adventures, the new experiences and maybe, by the end of the year I'll be looking back at all the new things I've learned.